SEATTLE — Parents and students packed a Seattle Public Schools board meeting Wednesday night to address what they call an unsafe environment at a West Seattle school.
Parents told the board that Pathfinder K-8 needs new leadership and change.
They are calling on the current principal and assistant principal to resign over serious allegations.
"I'm here because I love Pathfinder, and I'm very worried about the future of my school and its students and teachers," one student said during a public comment.
A group called Pathfinder Families wrote a letter to the school administration and Seattle Public Schools demanding the resignation of the principal and vice principal.
"It's for kids or teachers, people give their lives for our kids, and they deserve better leadership, for their own success and for the success of our kids," said Steve Patton, a parent at Pathfinder K-8.
Parents accuse the school's leadership of "negligence in dealing with safety violations" surrounding "classroom violence, physical assaults; sexual harassment and sexual assaults" between students "and failure to report incidents to families."
Others spoke in support of the principal, claiming the calls to remove her were due to racism.
"There is an anti-Black racism problem at Pathfinder," said Timmesha Watson, a special education teacher at Pathfinder.
Watson urged SPS to find ways to protect their Black staff members.
Some parents, like Patton, who is also Black, say race is not the issue.
"We're not doing anything uniquely anti-Black as we, as we say we demand better leadership. And candidly, I hope our next leadership is Black as well. But for this administration, we need change," Patton said.
KING 5 has reached out to Seattle Public Schools, the principal at Pathfinder K-8 and Seattle police for more information.